AUinfusion

After running off half of our talent and failing wildly in recruiting, the excuse was that Harsin only wanted “tough nosed, blue collar kids”. I don’t even see that. He has failed in every measurable aspect, and set this program back who knows how far.

33 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

You still haven't addressed the fact that He still played well against a top defensive team. Finley didn't beat Alabama and didn't post good numbers at all while he was the starter, and that includes him getting all the reps for SC, Alabama and the bowl game. 

I never said Calzada is the QB we need. I really wanted someone better. But at the end of the day he's a better QB that Finley. 

LSU is a dumpster fire who still found a way to beat TaM, and lose to Alabama by 6 and in OT to ARK all high bowl teams. They still were a tough opponent for anyone. 

But discount his plusses when they are staring you right in your face.

You better get used to it, bc Harsin if this is the best he can get is going to give him every chance to be the starter. 

It almost feels like you guys are arguing two different points. 

Steele: Calzada is better than Finley. This is true.

WED: Calzada is definitely not an upgrade at QB from last year (Nix), and we reeeeally need an upgrade at QB to be a better team. This is also true.

5 minutes ago, ChrisH said:

I want the kind of guy that would come for a half case of Miller Lite and 3 racks of ribs a week. 

Ok, you got me.

4 minutes ago, cole256 said:

It's more to it than that but that's a big factor as well. When he gets his shot at a big school what he will do in recruiting is going to literally be shattering. Watch

I'm pretty ready for that to happen, honestly. College football needs a seismic event like that so that we can *really* re-evaluate the entire system. 

8 minutes ago, Zeek said:

#1 Prospect in the country flipped from FSU to JSU...

Word is that Barstool gave him a $1.5 million deal to do so... wow

Are you serious, Clark?

2 hours ago, AUDevil said:

I don’t understand why AU doesn’t have an announcement within a week showing a similar commitment as any other big school.  Hopefully we have bright and aggressive staff devoted towards putting deals together and getting buy-in from major donors.  If I’m a recruit, this is a major factor.

 

This is the new arms race and probably more important than facilities.

Yup. In an environment where it feels like a few schools have built unassailable fortresses around paying players, this feels the kind of disruption that will let aggressive participants level the playing field. We're crazy not to be leaning into NIL, hard.

22 hours ago, Beaker said:

We are catching them at a really bad time (for us).     Yes, I could make some remarks about how Auburn seems to be clicking, but we only scored 3 points in the second half last week, so we have a lot of work to do...we are not world-beaters yet. 

 

I am actually, oddly, a bit glad that we struggled some on offense in the second half. The struggles were not bad, more mechanical, and they give us some tangible areas to work on improving. Hopefully that keeps the team focused on the idea that "We aren't there, yet. We need to keep grinding".

I'm pretty sure that the key to beating UGA is making sure that Jarquez ties his shoe correctly.

I want to see a fired up, disciplined, four-quarters team. If we play with heart and discipline we can make this a game. I want to have a strong enough performance that the fans are cheering their heads off for the entire game, and even after the game, win or lose.

6 hours ago, McLoofus said:

I don't know that I entirely agree with this. Finley isn't as mobile as Bo but I also feel that he's shown he's pretty difficult to tackle. Who was that huge QB for Kansas State back in the Ron Prince days? We were all over that dude all night but he just stood tall in the pocket and kept throwing darts. Like, I literally have this image of him standing there with perfect mechanics on display while two Auburn players are draped around his ankles. Anyway, Finley reminds me a little of that. Whereas Bo is avoiding contact, Finley is just persevering through it. 

You have examples of this, or is that just “what he could be”? TJ did a LOT better against GA St, but prior to that my memory of him was he just stood in the pocket and either got the pass off ahead of the rush or got sacked. One of my specific concerns about him was that he seemed to have very little awareness of the rush. That’s coming from memory, not film study, but my memory was that he has a great arm, sometimes failed to see the coverage, and almost never saw the rush.

21 hours ago, W.E.D said:

The consensus from various Mods/Insiders was none would return.  I'm not really sure why or why not.  Pretty sure Hamm would be on his 7th year after HS if he came back (missed a year due to cancer I believe).  

That seems like something that could change if we have a decent season and if coach Harsin gets a lot of buy-in from the players. I can see getting vastly different answers between asking senior OL whose coming back two months after a coaching change and asking that same group that same question after a solid year of steady improvement under that new coach. 

Felt like a lot of growing up happened during the course of this game, for players and for coaches. What a big step forward!

1 minute ago, creed said:

Bo had a chance to actually step up in the pocket on that 3rd down to buy his receiver more time to separate and he didn't. He just let it fly.

 

Bo is the only reason we have any points in this game. 

6 minutes ago, AUwent said:

Ya know, we have an All SEC contender RB. Be a shame if we didn't use him...

(is he in trouble?)

We tried to use him. He was getting hit in the backfield on every run. We’ve found a bit of a passing scheme that will work for us, no we need that for the run game.

Also heard that Tank has been playing hurt. That’s straight internet gossip. I have no sources.

2 hours ago, Zeek said:

If I could knee cap their QB for the team I'd make that sacrifice /sarcasm

Err... AU also has a history of making backup QBs look like Heisman contenders, so... 

6 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

Bo.  TJ was the hero last week but up until that last drive wasn't much better than Bo.  I think Bo allows the offense to open up a little more than with TJ at the helm.  I agree that if Bo comes out and looks like regular road Bo, TJ will get in the game.  

Edit to add Christian from the Auburn Sports guys made an interesting scenario that TJ starts and wins this game but Auburn loses the next 3 against UGA, Arky, and Ole Miss, which is entirely possible.  Bo comes back in and wins against TaMu, Miss State, USCe, and pulls off another miracle win against Bama.  That would be typical JABA but very possible.

 

Why would you put that second paragraph out in the universe, or, more importantly, in my head? 

4 minutes ago, The Freak said:

One has shown average-ness, though.  Jury is still out on the other.

Eh, I get what you are saying, but this, to me, is average-ness. I'm an optimist, so every game I believe I'll see better out of our players. Maybe he's turned a page.

 

To date, neither QB has shown greatness. I don't think one ranks above the other, I think that they have different strengths and weakness.

Bo:

Excellent athlete who is dangerous running the ball

Inconsistent accuracy on intermediate throws, sometime making easy catches harder

Really not very good long ball accuracy

Tendency to leave the pocket early

Tendency to try and force plays which can lead to turnovers

Finley (based past play, not just 4-1/2 minutes last week):

Bigger QB, but less mobile

Throws a beautiful ball

Puts too much heat on the ball, sometimes, making easy catches tougher

Tendency to stay in the pocket too long (I was happily surprised to see his improvement here last Sat)

Just doesn't see coverage sometimes and throws to the wrong team, regardless of pressure, which can lead to turnovers

I'm sure people could argue with any given point, or add others, but that's generally how I feel. Both QBs missed some throws they should make, and the WRs didn't help. I would say that Finley is more of a threat to connect on the long ball, Bo is more of a threat to burn a team with his feet. Which helps AU more against LSU? 🤷‍♂️

That was a very solid explanation by a couple of guys who know what they are talking about. I don't see a lot of quick answers, either. We simply do not have the "Joes". 

At this point, I'm OK with Harsin going full-on hard-ass with players and with coaches. Either he wins some needed recruiting battles, or he doesn't (in which case, his tenure will be short), but either way we need him to actually install that tough-nosed, detail-orientated style of playing and coaching that he keeps talking about.

Side note: both Cole and McElroy seem to think that our TEs are just average talent, in which case I give a lot of credit to those players mentality and to their position coach. I feel like the production from that group has been a bright spot.

From Cole Cubelic:

1 hour ago, CCTAU said:

“BO SUCKS” is not a critique. 
And that’s what you get from most of these guys who have never put on a helmet. 
Bo is a good QB. The problem is that folks don’t understand what “good” entails. 

There is a good post on another board that breaks down his game. Take away the WR drops and the throw aways and it’s not a bad game. He also has about half the time in the pocket that the PSU QB had. The OL did not have a great game and that impacted Bo and the run game. As for the rainbow balls, that had to be by design. I don’t remember seeing that kind of exaggerated throw from him, at all, before last night. Those were put in by a coach, probably as a preparation for not being able to slow the pass rush.

Bo played well enough last night. Our OL was not good, IMHO, and our WRs were not good. I was also surprised at our DLs lack of impact in the passing game. That has to improve.

Wish I trusted the OL more. I just don’t have faith that we can pickup one yard, even with Tank and Hunter.

Are we SURE that Gus didn’t find a way to call that play?

Did our WR… trip over his own feet… on what would have been a massive big play..?

Are we winning in the “who has the worst OL” competition?